Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Phew, what a week of news, huh? The Shiv Sena's turn-around on Amitabh Bachchan, Rajini's "I said it-I said it not," inflation touches something like 110%, the Olympic flame goes out, India lose the second test very fast and Rahul Gandhi gets called a racist.

The Shiv Sena. Now, the fine gentlemen who write the columns and editorials for 'Saamna'(is it only Bal Thackeray or do other people also contribute? What's the readership figure like, for Saamna? I'm curious. And isn't Saamna just a misspelling away from Saaman?) have staged a remarkable turnaround of stance and lauded Amitabh Bachchan as an asset to the nation and a megastar. In the space of one day, Amitabh Bachchan has, according to them, rendered remarkable service to Maharashtra and the Marathi culture and redeemed himself in their eyes. After asking him to draw inspiration from Rajinikant and his loyalty, this surely must have been prompted by Rajini suddenly becoming a much-disliked figure in Karnataka after reportedly asking that Kannadigas be kicked.

Which, of course, Rajini promptly denied. I watched bits of his interview on Udaya TV and his Kannada is very, very decent. Much better than his Tamil. Have you heard him speak Tamil in award ceremonies and public functions? Makes you cringe a bit, especially if you've just heard Kamal Haasan speak(who has this inexplicable habit of slipping suddenly into pure Tamizh and speaking poetically, even if the event is about commemorating Kumarimuthu or Usilimani or somebody.). And he conveys the impression of someone who's just reciting lines from the latest Rajini movie..oh wait.

So Rajini denied saying Kannadigas should be kicked. Apparently, only some Kannadigas should be kicked. He also said he'd apologise if Parvathamma Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Girish Karnad asked him to. Yes, pick the three Kannadiga personalities who most closely resemble the progress of man on the evolutionary chart to be the stalwarts you respect. This made Tamil commentators comment on his loyalty to Tamil and Tamildom. I don't understand this warped logic Tamil politicians follow. If A R Rahman or Ilayaraja go to Hindi movies or abroad and achieve success there, it is a matter of pride for Tamilians. And if that guy speaks up for the Tamil cause, he is a true Tamilian. This is the right thing to have done. "Tamizh panbadu." (I wanted to split that as pan-baadu, but let's not go there.) But if someone else comes from outside and does the same thing in Tamil, but chooses to not spew invectives at his/her state of origin, he deserves to be antagonised, alienated and ultimately thrown out.

Good thing they don't do that in the rest of the country, huh? Phew!

< /sarcasm>

P.S:- The rest of the news is a bit too cumbersome to follow up. The Rahul Gandhi thing is depressingly silly. Do read about it:- Maya memsaab

Note:- CNN-IBN is also depressingly silly.

Yet another note:- This post is very unnecessary. I'll come up with something better and, possibly, funny. I'm very sorry about this. Please don't leave me.